I don't normally write about personal junk here but I'm grumpy today soooooo...
I had a long rant with details all typed out, but I realized no one wants to read that sort of thing. The tl;dr version is that my little family has been hit with about $28k of extra expenses in the past nine months, and we're facing either $5k or $9k more next month to replace our hail-damaged roof.

The good news is, we've replaced every damn thing on this house recently so after this, there's no other expensive things left to break. Unless the walls spontaneously fall down or something. :x

The bad news is, I'm finding it hard to give a s*** about spending $20 here and there on random things because lol what is twenty bucks compared to over $30k?

I'll do my best to keep the "eff it" attitude in check, but it's hard to stay positive right now. Loosening up the spending goals a bit next month for sure... I don't need an artificial sense of failure on top of all this other mess. :(

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

The little diamond near the middle of the left side marks the edge of page one, so this photo is a good chunk of pages one and two (out of six total). Still a lot more to go, but there's just something really satisfying about a project with so many little motifs. Each one feels like a mini finish. :)

Friday, March 24, 2017

Here's the promised new start, Cirque des Carreaux by Ink Circles! As usual, the colors are kind of off, so I'll try to get a better shot next time.

Somehow it looks like a small start in this picture, but it's actually quite a bit. The center of the pattern is where the point of the doubled square comes in on the right side, and the small squares at the top are the top edge of the chart. Not quite half of page two (out of six total), I think, but still a pretty decent start!

As far as details go, I'm stitching on 40ct linen (not sure of the color but it's a solid) and using one strand of Carrie's Creations silk in the color Epiphany. It's the exact color called for on the chart but I suspect the model was stitched in cotton because it's very different from the cover photo, much darker and richer. I prefer my version, thankfully!

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

I keep forgetting to post this one! This is mostly complete up through part 12, with some of the motifs that are split across multiple parts not started, since I'll do those when I can stitch them all at once and not worry about parking a bunch of threads. :3

Sorry about the overexposed and oversharpened picture. I don't know what's up with my wife's phone camera, but it always messes up pictures of stitching. It's totally fine for other types of photos. I guess it has something to do with the level of detail or the weave of the fabric? Weird.

Also, sorry for not responding to any comments or leaving any on other blogs in a while. Things have been kind of crazy at home and I can't keep to my usual routine at this time. Next week should be back to business as usual, though. :)

Monday, March 13, 2017

Well, that was faster than I expected. Once I got close to a finish, I had to keep going... and since beading is my favorite part of any project, I couldn't stop. :)

She's stitched on Belfast linen from Crafty Kitten, in the color Buttercup. Pretty much everything is as charted, except I used a different but very similar color of kreinik braid since I didn't have the exact one and I don't care about exact matches. :p

I actually had all the required MH beads except the bicones because the MH repacked crystals are a total ripoff. Instead, I have a nice stash of various colors of bicones purchased from Fire Mountain Gems, and these are the exact color of the MH repack, minus the AB coating which I hate anyway. AB coatings always look really cheesy to me - you can't even see the color of the crystal! Why put that extra coating on there anyway???

Haha, rant aside, I'll be going back to the Beautiful Sea Quaker SAL until I'm caught up again, and then I might start another easy project. Still don't have the mental oomph to handle a Chatelaine right now, especially one that's stitched on black...

Wednesday, March 01, 2017

When the going gets tough, the tough start an easier project. Waterlily by Nora Corbett has been on my shortlist for ages, and is one of my goals for this year, so I decided to go for it. Beaded Dragonfly Tile is probably going to be pushed until after ~unspecified personal drama~ is over. I just don't have the patience for specialty stitches or over-one on black right now.

Mira/Nora projects are perfect for easy and relaxing stitching, and I've made quite a dent already!

As usual, the colors are awful despite my best attempts to correct them. I'm hoping I can get a decent daylight picture eventually. Anyway, this is stitched on Crafty Kitten Belfast linen in the color Buttercup, which is a pretty yellow with hints of green.

I'll just plow through on this one until she's finished. :)

~~~

And goals!

February goals:
- blog about progress once a week - YES
- no craft (or nail polish) spending! - NO and YES :p
- finish Summer Quakers - YES
- pick up Beaded Dragonfly Tile again - YES
I did really well with spending last month despite the one NO up there - managed to bring in some extra income and cut our budget relatively drastically without feeling deprived. Alas, most of that extra money has already been put toward other expensive but 100% necessary spending, but I'm so glad that money came from our normal budget and not our savings!

I also used the gift card my sister got me for Christmas to pick up a few charts from my wishlist, spending only $6 of my own money to cover the bit of excess and shipping. That would have been a perfect month for me, but last night I ordered some storage supplies, two upcoming Nashville charts, and two Mirabilia charts. Thanks, stress shopping! Fortunately all was covered by cash in my Paypal account but I still need to get back on the ball.

Proud of myself for avoiding nail polish for a full month, though! Let's make it two in a row! :)